Hoefferle said the term "social license" was used by Anglo executives at the meeting.

He said Nunamta members had also heard that executives from Pebble Partnership, a collaboration between Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American, were spreading word that Bristol Bay residents approved of the development.

"Of course we know that people in Bristol Bay are overwhelmingly opposed to it but the most recent data was a year and a half old," Hoefferle said, explaining Nunamta conducted a similar survey before.

According to a press release issued by Nunmata containing the executive summary, the survey's main findings were:

* The vast majority of residents favored renewable energy development (94 percent) value-added fish packing (89 percent), and tourism that Alaska Native communities could be involved (82 percent) in, over mining.

* Survey respondents agreed almost unanimously (97 percent) that maintaining subsistence-lifestyle resources and their subsistence lifestyle is important.

* Seventy-two percent of those surveyed reported that a significant part of their diet came from fish, game, berries and other subsistence sources.

* Only 8 percent of survey respondents supported the Pebble Mine project, less than the one-third the number that support oil and gas drilling.

* The strongest opposition to the mine was in the Nushagak Bay area, but even in Iliamna-Lake Clark area, where local businesses benefit more from current exploration activities, 73 percent of survey respondents oppose the mine.

* A majority (78 percent) thought Pebble mine would damage commercial, guided or subsistence fishing.

* Few respondents thought that mining could be done without harming the environment.

Hoefferle stood behind the survey's credibility and the firm that conducted it, Anchorage based Craciun Research.

"Craciun has a good reputation for doing surveys in rural Alaska. They did a rural survey for us before of 630 households and the results were incredibly accurate," he said.

The most recent survey sampled 411 Bristol Bay residents from six parts of the Bristol Bay region between May 18 and June 2, according to the press release. The margin of error was reported to be plus or minus 4.8 percent.

Hoefferle said he didn't expect to hear a direct response from Carroll, or that Anglo will pull out of their investment simply because of the survey.

That's not necessarily the point he said.

"The results of our survey indicate that even around Lake Iliamna where the bulk of the jobs have been, that 70-plus percent are in opposition of the mine, so we're hoping this leads to a more balanced view of how the people of Bristol Bay really feel about this," he said.

John Shively, CEO of the Pebble Partnership contested that statement.

Shively said he had questions about the survey. "First of all, you can't determine the value of a survey until you've seen the questions," he said. "Looking at some of the information, I believe they may have asked questions that lead to negative answers."

"I have some experience when I was called at home. They had questions that there was only one way to answer," he said.

He also said it was too early to conduct a survey given the project's status.

"We're still working on getting a project prospect that we can take to the public. We might have one some time in September of next year but this is a very complex project and there are a number of important issues that need to be addressed and we're going to take our time and get them right," he said.

The Pebble board of directors has hardly withdrawn from their interest in the mine either, indicated by their approval of an additional $10 million to the project's already $59 million budget last week.

Shivley said talk of social licensing was important to the mining companies, but was too early to be evaluated.

"Social licensing is something that is dealt with once someone has a project to look at, not before one exists," he said.

Shively thought Nunmata would hear from Carroll, but said, "I'd be very surprised if they get the answer they're looking for."

Dante Petri is a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion.